GUIDELINES FOR INDUSTRIAL ATTACHMENT REPORT

Report Presentation – Standard Format

a) Length of the report should be between 20-30 pages including appendices.
b) Typed and spaced at 1 ½ lines. No indentation at the start of the paragraph.
c) Font size 12, Times New Roman, Alignment = Justified.
d) CAPITALISE chapter headings and use Title Case for sub-headings.
e) Use Arabic Numerals for chapter headings e.g. Chapter 1 and not Chapter I.
f) Use Roman numerals for numbering preliminaries, and Arabic Numerals for numbering the rest of your report. (NB: Do not number the cover page)
g) Margins – Use the standard or default formats. (Make sure there is enough space for spiral binding on the left margin.)
h) Use A4 bond paper. (Use one side of the paper only.)
i) Bind your report using spiral or hard binding. If spiral is used, the top cover should be transparent and the back should be hard.
j) Acronyms – Spell the acronym out once and put the abbreviation in brackets e.g. Library and Information Science (LIS). Use capitalisation on acronyms, except on special cases, e.g. SAfAIDS.
k) Be clear and concise in your language by paying attention to grammar, punctuation, spellings, etc. Use British spelling e.g. organisation and not organization.

NB: You are required to submit 2 copies of your report, together with your logbook. The front cover must be as follows: (Decorations, logos, etc are not allowed)

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
FACULTY OF COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE

A Report on an Industrial Attachment at the British Council in Harare

July 2011 to February 2012

Prepared by Nyakondah Esther

N009 5128X

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE BACHELOR
OF SCIENCE HONOURS DEGREE

IN

LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE

Industrial Supervisor: Mr. A. Dube

Academic Supervisor: Mr. T Matingwina

YEAR 2012

REPORT CONTENT

PRELIMINARIES
a) Acknowledgements – please keep these brief to half a page or less.
b) Table of Contents
c) List of Tables
d) List of Figures
e) List of Appendices
f) List of acronyms - especially those unique to your company and not familiar to the reader of the report.
g) Executive Summary – write it last but place it here. It should give a summary of your report.

MAIN BODY
A. CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION
• Dates joined, your expectations before joining the organisation, your experiences in the first days and possibly challenges you faced during these days.
• Aim and objectives of the report.(State the purpose why you are writing the report)

B. CHAPTER 2 – THE ORGANISATION
• A brief general background of the company, its history, and organisational structure. You could include here the mission, vision and values of the host institution. Keep it short. Should you use pamphlets, brochures, WebPages, etc, to compile this, acknowledge this in the reference section and/or footnotes.
• Organisation of the Library or Section where you were attached: – its staff and structure (organogram), various departments and their functions. NB, this should be kept brief. Some students in the past have let this section run to 20 or more pages. Again, if you use company material for this section, reference it appropriately. Structured graphics or oganograms are useful.
NB: More emphasis should be put on describing the Library or Section where you were attached than on the parent organisation. However, information about both entities must be included.

C. CHAPTER 3 – DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
• A brief description of the department(s) in which you are placed, its organization and hierarchy.
• Your role in the department. This can be extremely detailed.
• How, what you did in this department linked to theories and concepts studied at NUST, i.e. theory versus practice, course by course.
• Summarise the skills you learnt at the work place.

D. CHAPTER 4 – EVALUATION OF THE INDUSTRIAL ATTACHMENT
You should evaluate:
i) Personal and Professional Competencies (Have you changed?) ii) The Library Department or Section where you were attached. Evaluate the parent organisation where there is need. Critique the organisation in relation to its mission vision, and core values. This must be done in line with the theoretical understanding gained at NUST. (NB: You are not supposed to criticise the organisation here, you are supposed to evaluate the organisation in line with its mission and vision) iii) NUST and the Department of LIS (In line with your attachment expectations)
- Limitations and constraints you faced from NUST with respect to the attachment. How did you overcome them? iv) The Work (profession):- What is your view of the work that you were involved in: – librarianship, information or knowledge management, information technology management and information systems, etc?

E. CHAPTER 5 – CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
• Conclusion – a brief restatement of the overview or abstract, and body – elemental observations stated previously.; and from the company.
• Recommendations to NUST, the Department of LIS; and to the organisation. You might want to include remedial actions taken to address these. State NUST’s and the institution’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Does the institution you were attached at have a strategic plan? What are your comments on the strategic plan? You may write freely without fear of reprisal.

a) REFERENCES – These should be cited at the end of the report. (Use the Harvard referencing style that is attached on your attachment weblog)
b) APPENDICES – These are any samples of the work you would have done. This may include photos, annual general reports, pamphlets, web pages, etc. Should you include videos or audio material, a shortlist or brief will be required.

LOGBOOK
Record your daily/weekly activities in a logbook. Your academic supervisor will need to see your log book during industrial assessment. Make sure that the logbook is always in order. You will also be required to submit your logbook together with the two copies of your final report for marking.

Illustrations, graphics, layout and colour

This may be your chance to excel. You are your own writer, editor, sub editor, layout artist, photographer, designer, etc. Please remember there are financial constraints involved in this.
For final assessment, the Department of LIS will take into account fair reporting and analysis of events. Generally, students who demonstrate maturity in their analysis by being critical will get better scores. Merely narrating your experiences will not help you. The Department will also look at the overall outlook of your report in terms of, language, style, conciseness, brevity, and neatness.